NO vote on Sunday referendum will weaken Greek position - Juncker

BRUSSELS, July 3 (KUNA) -- The President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker warned Friday that if the Greeks vote NO to the austerity programme in Sunday's referendum the Greek position in negotiations with its three creditors, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund will be weak. "The program has come to an end, there are no negotiations underway; if the Greeks will vote no, they have done everything but strengthening the Greek negotiations position, the Greek negotiation position will be dramatically weakened by a 'NO' vote," he told a press conference in Luxembourg after taking part in a ceremony to launch the EU Presidency taken over by Luxembourg on July 1.
"Even in the case of a 'yes' vote, we'll have to face difficult negotiations," he declared.
On his part, Xavier Bettel, PM of Luxembourg told the joint press conference that "Greece has kept us busy for the past few weeks; Sunday's referendum in Greece will have consequences," he said, noting that the UK will also hold a referendum in 2017 on its EU membership.
"We want to keep Greece in the Eurozone and we want to keep the UK in Europe," he said.
Bettel said the the theme of the six-month Luxembourgish EU Presidency is "union for the citizen, a union which is closer to the citizens, which works better for businesses ." . Among the priorities of the Luxembourg EU Presidency are managing migration, including freedom, justice and security; and strengthening the EU's presence on the global stage including the Middle-East, he noted.
"We have problems in Syria, we have the problem of foreign fighters as well and not least Ukraine and Russia and relations with those countries," he added. (end) nk.gb